Oracle
by Insanitycore
Summary: She's Different from everyone else, human or not. Backstory of the Oracle Turret


I'm Different.

I've always felt like I don't belong, like I'm not what I seem to be. I always knew that, and I guess it's okay, really.

Other people know it too. They sense something different inside me, something wrong and strange, and they don't like it. They don't look right at me, they move away when I walk towards them. And when I try to talk to them, they look at their feet and don't say anything back.

Daddy says it's because I know things. Things that other people don't know. Things that they might not want to hear. Of course, he understands. He's a scientist. Scientists know a lot of things other people don't.

One time Daddy took me to his work. It's a really tiny building on top, but you get in an elevator and it takes you way, way down to what he calls "The Labs". The Labs are filled with all kinds of other scientists doing all kinds of wacky things in a bunch of little rooms. Daddy wouldn't let me in those rooms because he said what they were doing is a secret.

There were other little girls there that day. They all stared at me and pointed and hid behind their parents. Their parents stared at me too.

But there was one scientist other than Daddy that I liked. He was really, really tall and he had big square glasses and messy brownish hair. He told me to call him Steve, but he said it real funny. I told him he talked weird and he just chuckled and messed up my hair. I only met Steve that one time, but he was pretty nice.

And from that one time, I also Saw things about him. Like that he would live a long, long time, but he would be very different than he was now. And he was gonna wake the world back up after a long sleep. And he would become the King after defeating the evil Queen. But then he would turn bad and be sent away forever.

But that's all I could See of him.

After I told him that, everyone around us looked at me like I was crazy and backed up. And then Daddy got a phone call and had to go see his boss. He took me with him, and after we talked with his boss, Daddy and I were sent home. I never went back to Daddy's work after that.

Sometimes, being Different like me isn't so great.

**0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0**

"Sir, we just got a call from one of the workers down in Test Shaft Nine. Apparently one of the children down there is causing problems."

Mr. Johnson shook his head. Evidently, this wasn't something he wanted to hear at the moment.

"Well whose kid is it, Caroline?" he grumbled, visibly annoyed. "We can't have some little brat distracting our lab boys. They have important…uhhh…stuff… that they need to be doing! I _told _you this 'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day' thing was a bad idea."

"It's Tom Harper's daughter," I answered mildly, "and Bring Your Daughter to Work Day was _not_ my idea."

"I don't care whose idea it was, it was still a terrible idea! Now get Harper's sorry ass up here right now so I can give him a piece of my mind about controlling his own kid!"

I sighed. "Yes sir, Mr. Johnson."

A few minutes later, Mr. Harper and the little girl in question were at Cave's office door. Mr. Harper held his daughter's hand and looked at his shoes.

"Um…I'm really sorry about this whole thing," he muttered, more to himself than to me. "I didn't think she would act up here of all places. But she's always been a little different. I should've known better. Sorry."

All the while, the little girl stood with her hands behind her back, staring up at me. Her eyes were enough to unsettle me. They were a strange shade of brown that made them appear almost crimson, and they were shadowed with something that should never be present in a girl her age. She spoke with a high pitched, innocent-sounding voice.

"Your name is Caroline."

I blinked in surprise. She didn't _ask _if it was my name. She _stated _it with startling certainty. How did she know my name? Had her father told her –?

"Shay!" her father barked sternly. "What have I told you about keeping your thoughts to yourself?"

She ignored him and continued to stare at me. "You're going to become the Queen. But you won't really be you. Not right away."

"_Shay!" _Mr. Harper hissed, but I put a hand up to stop him.

"No, no, sir, it's quite alright. Go on, Shay," I said gently. Her father shifted uncomfortably but didn't object any further.

Her head tipped inquisitively to one side. "You'll meet the Princess. And she'll kill you. But the Fool will reawaken you from your hundred year sleep."

Somehow, her nearly nonsensical speech intrigued me. It should have meant nothing. But for some reason, I just couldn't ignore what this tiny girl was saying. I knelt down and nodded for her to continue.

"The Princess and the Fool will bring you down and the Fool will become King. But the King will turn on his ally," she said knowingly, her gaze never leaving my eyes. "You will be cast downwards with her and find your humanity once again. Only then can you reclaim your throne."

There was a long silence. I could almost feel the tension in the air. After a minute or so, she spoke again.

"That's all I can say."

At that moment, Mr. Johnson's door swung open and he beckoned the pair inside, leaving me in the hall, alone with the little girl's message and my own thoughts.

From behind the door, I heard their muffled conversation.

"Alright Harper," growled Mr. Johnson grumpily, "You have exactly sixty seconds to explain to me what your kid was doing and why you didn't tell her to knock it off or you'll be out of here before you can say 'Aperture'."

"Don't buy them," Shay's voice was barely audible through the door.

I heard a choking sound and some coughing. I couldn't help but chuckle; it sounded like Cave had nearly inhaled the coffee I had brought him earlier that morning. "I'm sorry, _what?_" he spluttered.

"What you're thinking of buying. Don't buy them," the girl said quietly. "It changes the fate of this place forever."

The words hung in the air for a few moments before Mr. Harper cleared his throat noisily.

"Um…that," he mumbled. "That's what she was doing, sir. She made a few comments like that to Stephen and…well, a few people were disturbed by it. Not a big deal, really. I guarantee it won't happen agai –"

"Get out," I was startled by Mr. Johnson's abruptness.

"Pardon, sir?" said Mr. Harper, obviously confused.

"Get. Out. You can keep your job, for now. But I don't want you bringing _her _back here anymore. Ever. Got it?"

"…yes, sir."

With that, the door creaked open and Mr. Harper rushed out, his daughter trailing along behind him.

**0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0**

"You scheduled for testing today, mate?"

"Yeah. Not till noon though."

"What are you testing?"

"That new Conversion Gel. Honestly, I cannot believe the old man decided to spend seventy million dollars that we don't even have on moon rocks for that stupid gel. Seventy million! He'll bankrupt us!"

"No wonder he can't afford to get proper test subjects anymore."

"Yeah. But have you talked to the guy lately? He's not doing too well. Apparently ground moon rocks are, as he put it, 'pure poison.' Honestly, he's probably not going to make it for much longer."

"Oh my God. I…ohhh, I dunno if I should tell you this…"

"What?"

"You know that bizarre little girl, Tom Harper's daughter? I talked to her on Bring Your Daughter to work day."

"Yeah?"

"Well…there've been rumors floating about that she predicted this whole thing. Told Johnson not to buy the rocks. And she's said some other really odd things as well, having to do with Aperture."

"So?"

"So, the way Johnson sees it, the girl knows too much. He can't have people like that potentially ruining his business."

"Ha. Like he hasn't ruined it himself already."

"The point is he wants her out of the picture."

"Yeah, right. What's he gonna do, kill her?"

"Well…no. See, he needs a guinea pig for the new…ah…personality transfer procedure. He's been wanting his brain put in the central computer for years now."

"Yeah, I know."

"So they finally came up with a way to do it, and now they just need to make sure it works."

So what, they're gonna use the girl?"

"Yeah. Put her in a machine. I dunno what yet."

"And how would you happen to know this, Steve?"

"Because…er…"

"Yes?"

"…because I've been assigned to help do it."

**0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0**

My fingers twitched as I dialed the phone. I was nervous, not because I thought I might lose my job, not because I was afraid of what Johnson might do to me, but because try as I might, I couldn't think of any reason why _this _would be an okay thing to do. And yet here I was.

"Hello?" a groggy sounding voice answered the phone.

"Oh…um…hello Tom," I fumbled over my words. "You're needed down at the labs. It's fairly urgent."

"Stephen, you all know I have Shay this week," he sighed. "And her babysitter can't come down at this hour."

"That-that's quite alright. I'm not busy at the moment. I'll keep an eye on her. Y'know, make sure nothing happens to her." I winced as I told the blatant lie.

He sighed again. "Alright, fine. On my way."

When Tom's car pulled up, the guilt level in my chest rose. "Alright, alright, calm down," I muttered to myself, wringing my hands together. "You have to do it. D-do you want to lose your bloody job? No! But…oh God, I c-can't do this…"

My coworker walked in, holding his daughter's hand. I cleared my throat and said, "Johnson wanted to speak with you right away. Says it's important."

"It'd better be, if I have to get up at this hour and come here, with Shay," he growled. "Who, by the way, Johnson _said _he never wanted to see here again."

"Well, ah…he's making an exception this time, I suppose," I lied.

He rolled his eyes and knelt down next to his daughter. "You be good for Steve, okay, honey?"

She nodded thoughtfully and whispered, "Goodbye Daddy." Somehow, I knew she was aware that she would never see him again.

Without another word, Tom left me alone with Shay. I took her hand and, as calmly as possible, said, "Alright luv. Come with me." I began to walk, and she followed along obediently. We boarded the elevator and began the long ride down in silence. Occasionally, I would glance down and catch her red-brown eyes boring into me, an unasked question shadowing her pale face. I tried not to look at her.

When we got to the bottom, I tugged her hand and walked her through the test shaft. She looked about slowly. "You're going to send the Princess down here," she remarked. "After you become King."

I was only half listening to her. Hearing her speak reminded me that she was still a person, and that she wouldn't be for long. All because of me. "Mhmm," I said absently. "That's nice, dear."

After what seemed like forever, we arrived at the Transfer Studies Lab. It's a big square room divided into three separate compartments, the first being the control room with one-way windows into the two transfer rooms. One transfer room contains the subject whose personality you're extracting, and he second contains the construct that the personality will go into.

A white, elliptical robot with three slender legs and a single optic in the center was in the recipient room. I recognized this as one of the prototype turrets that was being newly manufactured. They would hopefully be used for testing in a few years' time. Why would Johnson want the girl put into one of _those_? They were programmed to be killers. This girl was anything but.

Nevertheless, I led her into the donor room and told her to sit in the rickety little chair in the center. She obeyed. And, with shaking hands, I began to strap her into the transfer device. I did this silently for a few minutes, with Shay staring at me all the while. Once I finished I told her, "There w-we go, you're all set. Just…sit still. It'll b-be over in a moment."

I turned to leave, but froze in my tracks at the sound of her little voice saying, "Hey."

"Hmm?" I asked tentatively.

She looked down at her feet. "Will I still be Different? You know, after?"

Shock and sadness hit me in a wave. This poor girl had trusted me, and now she knew what was happening and that I was doing it to her. And she wanted to know if she would still be herself when it was over.

But what made it worse was that I couldn't even answer her question.

I shrugged and turned away. "I dunno, luv. I'm sorry."

With that, I exited the room and tapped one of my coworkers on the shoulder. "Er…she's all ready," I said quietly. I paused for a moment, then asked, "But can't there be any other way? She's only a child. I can't help feeling that we're not doing the right thing here."

He shook his head. "Sorry. Boss' orders."

I started to protest, but stopped myself and took a deep breath. "Right then. Let's get this over with."

He pushed a button on the panel in front of him, and the donor room began to fill with sleeping gas. I glanced at the tiny form of the girl in the room and shuddered, knowing she was living the last few moments of her humanity.

I closed my eyes.

**0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0**

I'm Different.

I've always felt like I don't belong, like I'm not what I seem to be. I've always known that, and I guess it's okay, really.

The other turrets don't know anything. They barely even know what they are. All they know is what they were programmed to do. And they do it. Every one of them. They're all exactly the same, like cloned copies of one original.

I know things they don't know. I know that I exist, I know what I am. I only wish I could remember what I _was. _I know about the Outside, and I know that I really, really want to go there, because that's where I actually came from. I'm not from here. I'm not like _them. _

And most importantly, I can See things. Things that no one else can see. I have knowledge of the future. Sometimes I can use it to help others. That's the good part.

But with this gift comes the undeniable knowledge that I will never again see the Outside. I will forever remain down here, alone. All I have is my awareness, my Sight, and my fragmented memories.

Sometimes, being Different like me isn't so great.

But it's who I am. I've come to accept that.

I am Different. I am the Oracle.

**0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0**

**~ So I tried something TOTALLY different from anything I've written before this time, which took a lot of effort on my part. The Oracle Turret is hard to write for, mainly because she doesn't really develop at all during the game, and her appearance is so brief. But hey, I thought I'd do something new and at least somewhat creative. Sue me. Anyways, I'll be continuing with **_**For Science, **_**and also working on little one-shots like this occasionally. And, as I keep promising, a BIG story is in the works right now. I'm doing a few last minute tweaks on the first chapter, so that should be up soon. But until then, happy (late) 4****th**** of July, everyone! ~**


End file.
